Independence Day

Starred review from March 30, 2015
Compelling characters, a wealth of technical detail, and ticking-clock suspense make bestseller Coes’s fifth Dewey Andreas novel (after 2013’s Eye for an Eye) one of the year’s best thrillers. CIA director Hector Calibrisi draws the ex-Delta operative turned CIA agent back into action from Dewey’s hometown of Castine, Maine, where he retreated after the death of his fiancée six months earlier. Dewey winds up searching for a genius Russian computer hacker, Pyotr Vargarin (aka Cloud), who’s acquired a nuclear weapon and is bent on wreaking revenge for earlier ill treatment at American hands. Cloud has hacked his way into the CIA computer system and is always one step ahead as bodies pile up and Dewey goes off the grid to save the U.S. The attack is scheduled for the Fourth of July, which gives Dewey and his comrades only a few days to stop Cloud. Last-minute twists ratchet up the tension as the book races to the final confrontation. 100,000-copy first printing. Agent: Nicole James, Chalberg & Sussman.

August 1, 2015

A heartrending prolog sets the stage for a 30-year plot to avenge the betrayal and death of the antagonist's parents by an American agent. Cloud, a hit man for the Russian mafia and a brilliant hacker, is focused on taking down the country that promised his father asylum in exchange for a highly advanced weapon and then murdered him. The fifth series entry (after An Eye for an Eye) has Dewey under attack from a political aspirant who is determined to show that NOC (nonofficial covers without diplomatic immunity) agents like Dewey are a national security risk. As our hero fends off his rivals, he is also tasked with locating the nuclear bomb Cloud has stolen. VERDICT The action is nail-bitingly intense as Dewey and his team try to identify the U.S. city scheduled for destruction and stop delivery of the bomb before a national tragedy occurs. With the clock ticking, readers are taken on a suspenseful race to numerous locations and situations. Coes's latest is certain to appeal to his fan base and attract new aficionados. [See Prepub Alert, 1/6/14.]

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